Make a Front Opening Pocket Diaper

Make a Front Opening Pocket Diaper

Step One: Cut your PUL (or heavy weight fleece) body layer just as you would if you were making a regular Very Basic AIO using the pattern extension lines. Cut your inner fabric (something that wicks moisture: microfleece or suedecloth) using the regular pattern cut lines; your inner layer will be narrower through the leg area than your outer waterproof layer.

Step Two: Follow the pattern directions to serge (or straight stitch) the sides and wing sides. Sew elastic in the back waist and sew the back waist opening closed.

Here you see I’ve sewn my elastic in as directed to the PUL side and left the front waist open.

Step Three: Cut a piece of PUL fabric to back your Aplix loop with. In retrospect, this would have been easier to do FIRST ;o)

Step Four: Sew your Aplix loop (I’m using Loop Fabric instead) to the PUL side only, making sure the PUL facing is behind it. This is MUCH easier to do before sewing your two layers together. Pin carefully as needed to help you get it sewn in straight.

This photo shows it all sewn in.

Step Five: Turn the diaper right side out and use your finger or a chopstick to get all of the corners turned out sharp and crisp.

Step Six: Topstitch across the back waist as directed. Turn the edges of the front panel opening inward and stitch all the way around, as if you were hemming a pair of pants. PUL, suedecloth, and microfleece do not fray so there is no need to double hem.

Here you can see where I’ve topstitched across the back and my opening is nice and neat. I used white thread so you could see my stitching in the pictures, but this would look better with matching green thread.

Step Seven: Sew your hook and loop closures to the wings as directed and you’re all done!

Optional Step Eight: I decided to serge quickly around two layers of burley knit terry to make a quick and easy stuffer for this pocket diaper. This pocket is a Medium and the dimensions of the stuffer are: 11" x 12.5". Folded into thirds it makes 6 thirsty layers.